a wonderful pairing, even before the wine was poured

 

The meal was a treat, and had I not purchased all the ingredients myself, I might have had a hard time believing that all ingredients together probably set me back only 11 or 12 dollars, and that’s for two people!  Even considering that it was a dinner prepared at home, the figure is pretty incredible, although absolutely verifiable.  The squid cost $6.50 (and had I wanted to clean them myself, it would have been only about $3.25), the treviso was less than half that, and the oil, lemon, balsamic vinegar, dried oregano, dried chile, salt, and pepper just might have brought the total up to the figure I mentioned above.

This is one of the reasons why we can afford to eat out in New York, at least once in a blue moon. Perhaps ironically, this time the seafood itself was actually from the ‘Blue Moon’, to be specific, Blue Moon Fish.  Exactly who’s irony was involved, I can’t say, since I don’t know the story behind the name Alex and Steph gave to their little blue-hulled fishing boat).

 

Ruby’s rendering, of the ‘Blue Moon’, spotted on the bulletin board of her family’s Greenmarket stall

 

• cleaned squid bodies and tentacles from Blue Moon Fish, in Union Square Greenmarket, rinsed, dried, placed in an enameled cast iron pan after its cooking surface had been brushed with olive oil and heated on top of the range until very hot, then sprinkled with some super-pungent dried Italian oregano from Buon Italia and one crushed dried pepperoncino, also from Buon Italia, with a good squeeze of lemon juice and some olive oil drizzled over the top, placed in a pre-heated 400º oven and roasted for five minutes
• one head of treviso, from Lucky Dog Organic, quartered lengthwise, drizzled with a little olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, turned several times to coat well, and placed, cut-side down on a baking sheet, roasted in the same 400º oven, turning once, for 12 minutes or so, or until the leaves are wilted and charred slightly, transferred to plates, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and a squeeze of lemon
• the wine was a Spanish (Valladolid) white, Blanco Nieva Verdejo 2013, from Manley’s Wine & Spirits
• the music was Sviatoslav Richter playing Beethoven piano sonatas